NAFSA will be co-sponsoring the 4th International Indigenous Peoples Corn Conference March 7th, 8th and the 22nd Fair of Corn and Other Native Seeds March 9thof this year in Vicente Guerrero, Tlaxcala México hosted by the International Indian Treaty Council, Proyecto de Desarrollo Rural Integral Vicente Guerrero, A.C., and Asamblea de Pueblos Indígenas por la Soberanía Alimentaria en México.
This conference will follow up on the success of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd International Indigenous Peoples Corn Conference in Oaxaca, Mexico in September of 2012, Okmulgee, Oklahoma in September of 2014 and Tecpan, Guatemala in March of 2017. It will bring Indigenous farmers, knowledge holders, food sovereignty activists, Tribal leaders, youth, and elders together to share information, seeds, traditional knowledge, and strategies to defend corn and other traditional foods vital to our ways of life as Indigenous Peoples.
Topics for presentation and discussion will include: 1) Spiritual, cultural and nutritional significance of corn for Indigenous peoples; 2) Current threats to corn and Indigenous Peoples’ traditional food systems; 3) International work for food sovereignty and the rights of Indigenous Peoples; 4) Solutions and strategies based on traditional knowledge and practices in order to protect and defend corn; and 5) The implementation of Indigenous Peoples’ food sovereignty zones. Hands on demonstration on how different Indigenous Peoples across the Americas use corn will also take place.
For more information email nicole@treatycouncil.org or visit www.iitc.org |